LONDON—
Airbus Group
NV booked 248 more jet orders last month led by an undisclosed buyer of 50 single-aisle planes, taking its tally so far this year to roughly twice the European plane maker’s original estimate for 2014.

Airbus said on Friday that it has now booked 1,328 orders in the first 11 months of the year. Airbus began the year expecting to book about half that many orders. The figures exclude order cancellations.

Swelling order books at Airbus and arch-rival
Boeing Co.
reflect the prolonged buying spree by airlines for more fuel efficient planes as they seek to cut costs and expand to meet steadily growing demand for air travel, notably in emerging economies.The boom has inflated the order books at Airbus and rival Boeing Co. which dominate the market for large passenger jets.

Airbus said its bookings last month included two orders from undisclosed buyers for 40 and 30 single-aisle jets respectively.

An Airbus A350 aircraft takes off beyond an Airbus A320neo aircraft. The European plane maker is enjoying strong demand for both planes.
Bloomberg News

Airbus said it had delivered 554 jets in the first 11 months of the year. The company has a full-year target of handing over at least 72 more aircraft in December to match last year’s total.

Boeing said on Thursday it had booked 1,380 net orders for the year through Dec. 2, and has seen deals for 106 jets canceled. The Chicago-based plane maker delivered 647 aircraft in the first 11 months of the year as it remains on pace to ship more planes than Airbus to retain the title as world’s largest jetliner maker.

Airbus also suffered 11 more plane cancellations, bringing the total for the year through November to 297. Most of the cancellations are for A320 single-aisle planes.

One customer dropped an A350 widebody order last month, bringing the year’s total for the model to 83 aircraft.

The first of the new family of long-range jets is due for delivery to Qatar Airways on December 13, the airline said Thursday. Airbus has orders for 778 A350 jets.